


An Ambush of Widows

by meretricula



Category: Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 07:39:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17700326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meretricula/pseuds/meretricula
Summary: It is no small accomplishment, to become the widow of the tsar.





	An Ambush of Widows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_glow_worm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_glow_worm/gifts).



It is no small accomplishment, to become the widow of the tsar. 

That was not the foremost thought in my mind, of course, as we stumbled out of Miryem's grandfather's house into the snowy street in our soot-streaked finery, all of us looking back over our shoulders to see if either of the monsters we had pitted against each other would escape to pursue us. I did not even know for certain if we had succeeded in widowing each other, or if we would survive to celebrate our newfound state. I had thought to have time, time enough to secure a future for myself and for Lithvas after I sent my demon-ridden husband to his pyre, and instead I now had at best a month to rule on behalf of my empty womb before even the fiction of power was stripped from me. 

"Irina, the soldiers," Miryem said, her fingers squeezing with unexpected strength on the hand by which she had dragged me from the burning house, and I remembered the powers that could not be stripped from me: my mother's blood, and my father's cunning, and Miryem's crown.

"A terrible wickedness has been purged from Lithvas tonight," I announced. I stood straighter and put my shoulders back and I felt the weight of my silver crown, not a burden but a counterbalance as I put my country and all the souls within it on my back. Mirnatius's soldiers stared at me, caught by the alchemy of Staryk silver and my mother's Staryk blood, and I held them fast: they were my soldiers now. "Are you God-fearing men? My beloved husband has given his life to free us all from the demon of winter: bless yourselves and pray for his salvation! But move quickly, we must stop the fire from spreading. Rouse the neighbors, summon the fire brigade — "

Fire was a familiar threat, and one they knew how to fight — unlike, I supposed, a winter demon. The soldiers and the remaining wedding guests burst into action, and I found myself passing buckets of water up a chain of human arms, Miryem in her impossible golden dress on one side and the tall peasant girl who had held her so tightly on the other. I was afraid that maybe Mirnatius's demon ( _Chernobog_ , the Staryk king had called him, and it was good to put a name to something I feared) had survived after all, we fought to put the fire out so long, but eventually the sun rose and the last smoldering embers were drowned. There was a warm breeze blowing away the smoke, and the air smelled of spring. 

The night's long work was done, and we were all ready to fall over where we stood. Miryem slumped against the blonde girl and a small dark woman who must have been her mother. Even in the circle of their arms, she was staring at the wreckage of the house, and I wondered if she was sorry for what she had done to her husband, as I was a little sorry, distantly, for Mirnatius. Or maybe she grieved for her family's home, or maybe she was only tired. "Miryem," I said, and she straightened slowly and came over to me. 

We were widows, now: I the widow of a tsar and a demon of fire, and she of a demon of ice and a fairy king. No, it was not a small thing we had done. It was not a small thing we had done for each other. "Thank you," I said. 

Miryem looked at me — at _me_ , not at the beautiful self that everyone else saw beneath my crown — and made a low, exhausted sound that might almost have been a laugh. "You're welcome," she replied.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear the_glow_worm: Happy Valentine's Day, and thank you for a fantastic prompt!


End file.
